Final year project
edgelands and me [Read more]
Behind Nan's House
Social mobility
An act made harder
By our polite civility
A do not enter
Warning to trespass
A metaphor of social construct
I was working class
By The Bowl
To the path, we walk along
To the path dictated, we follow
To where we stand, I recognise
To where the edgeland becomes a thought
To the path, I choose to walk
Gate 7
The boundary they say is no longer there
They call it nonexistent
Yet I trespass
To an occupation
One they say too distant
Concrete Place
Sidings
What Was
Imogen Laura Wells
My practice is about representing the edgeland landscape as a metaphor for social mobility, through the pairing of photography and poetry.
My interest is in places, particularly those places that go unacknowledged, unnoticed, those places that are liminal. Edgelands are ever-changing spaces that are directly impacted through social change, industrial development and the processes of modernity. I use film photography to capture edgelands and the process of this enables me to be more reflective. I find parts of my own identity relating to these places, to which I see edgelands as a metaphor for social mobility. Often, these in-between spaces form the backdrop to Britain's working-class culture, and so I started writing poetry to connect my ideas. My practice involves exploring, decision-making and challenging myself creatively.
Final year project
edgelands and me
Awards
'Redefining Britain's working-class identity: a study of artists' depictions of their environment' was the title of my dissertation, which formed the foundations of my research for the 'edgelands and me' studio project. I discovered that the visual landscape can hold similar characteristics to those that divide the social classes of Britain. For this, I achieved a First Class grade, and so I gained a great deal of confidence with writing. This confidence encouraged me to challenge myself further with writing, and so I began integrating poetry into my practice.